Hunter Brown Leads Astros to a 6-3 Win Over the Tigers

Another strong showing by rookie Hunter Brown and some home run punch by Yordan Alvarez, Kyle Tucker, and Yuli Gurriel gave the Astros their third straight win and series victory in Detroit by the score of 6-3.

The Astros put on a clinic on how to score runs with two outs in the first three innings of tonight’s game against Tiger starter Drew Hutchinson.

With two outs and nobody on in the first, Yordan Alvarez hit his second homer in two nights and his 33rd of the season to give the Astros an early 1-0 lead.

In the third inning, again with two outs, Alvarez started things again with a double and scored on an Alex Bregman bloop single. And then Kyle Tucker gave the Astros a 4-1 lead with a two-run homer to right, his 26th.

Meanwhile, the Tigers were able to limit the Astros' lead with single runs in the second and third innings off Astros starter, rookie Hunter Brown, a Michigan native. The Tigers scored in the second on an RBI single by Eric Haase. And in the third, the Tigers led off with a triple by Akil Badoo, who scored on an RBI single by Riley Greene.

Those were the only two runs scored on Brown, who went six innings, allowed five hits, two walks, and had six strikeouts. Brown’s fastball hit 98, and his last strikeout was on a slider clocked at 94. Brown again showed good control, throwing 69.51% of his pitches for strikes. And he got stronger as the game progressed, retiring his last seven batters faced, three by strikeout.

In the seventh inning, the Astros added two more runs on a two-run Yuli Gurriel homer. It was his first since July 1st and only his eighth of the year. However, in his last four games, not including tonight's two-hit night, Gurriel is hitting .389, and in September, he’s hitting .278.

What a bonus if Yuli Gurriel can rediscover his 2021 magic just in time for the playoffs.

In the bottom of the seventh, the Tigers inched a little closer on a homer by Kody Clemens (yes, the son of Roger), but that would end the scoring for the night. Rafael Montero would hold the Tigers in the eighth, and Ryan Pressly would earn his 27th save in the ninth, striking out the side, preserving the Astros’ 6-3 win over the Tigers.

The Astros and Tigers play their last game of the season against each other tomorrow at 12:10 CT. Cristian Javier goes for the sweep.

Box score and videos HERE.

Here’s a video summary of Brown’s dominant performance.